15 April, 2008
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By PGA professional Michael Vandenberg
Most players, even Tiger Woods, struggled to cope with the wind during the final round.
The final round of the Masters at Augusta National saw some high scoring caused largely by the blustery winds swirling through the trees.
Tandridge-based PGA professional Michael Vandenberg was impressed with the way the 2008 champion Trevor Immelman dealt with the conditions and kept his cool for a wire-to-wire victory.
The adverse weather conditions on the final day of the Masters really made what would be a tough final round even tougher for everybody.
The thing with Augusta is that it's not like a links course where you have run ups to the greens so you can punch the ball through the wind. Augusta's greens are heavily protected by bunkers and trees so you have no option but to go high.
When the wind is swirling around it is important you don't try and hit the ball extra hard. A lot of amateurs make the mistake of trying to really smash the ball into the wind, but this just causes more problems. The harder you hit it, the more spin you put on the ball and with the wind that just exaggerates the rotations and the ball's movement. The best thing to do is move the ball back in your stance and swing through nice and easy.
Most players, even Tiger Woods, struggled to cope with the wind during the final round and that can have an affect on the game mentally as well as physically.
Immelman showed enormous mental strength throughout the whole weekend. The way he played the final round and the toughness he showed was incredible.
He knew he had a good lead and he knew the conditions were causing a lot of problems for a lot of the other players. So everything he did was simple. He didn't try to do anything magnificent, he just played the easy shot and made sure he didn't drop anything.
Even at 16 when his tee shot went into the water he didn't panic and try to be spectacular to make amends. He simply chipped on and putted for a double bogey knowing he still had a healthy lead.
It was a shame to see Paul Casey drop out of contention so quickly during the final round. I really thought he had a good chance after his birdie at the third, and things didn't look too bad on the fourth when he had a great shot into the green, but it fell short. But then he went into the bunker and ended up with a double bogey.
Sometimes when people make mistakes they try extra hard to make up for it but usually end up making it worse and I wonder if this is what happened to Paul. A useful lesson for amateur golfers is if you have a bad shot to just forget it and move on. Dwelling on your bad shots can have a negative effect.
But it was great to see Casey up there and Justin Rose who started well too. I saw one stat that said 20 out of the 29 people who at one point led the Masters were European. Hopefully this is a sign that we're going to see more Europeans challenging this year.
Michael Vandenberg is based at Tandridge Golf Club - telephone 01883 712273